There are numerous current methods of rendering ice or ice cubes accessible at the front of a freezer-refrigerator, for example, without need to open one of its main doors. This is helpful, because the door of the freezer compartment is relatively large, and when opened much cold air is lost and warm air introduced, all when merely a few pieces of ice are desired at the time. In some contemporary arrangements, power driven means dispense the ice piece-by-piece from an interior reservoir directly through the freezer door, or through a fixed front panel between a pair of freezer doors as in the co-pending application of John J. Pink et al, Ser. No. 271,797, filed July 14, 1972, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,923. In still others, an entrance is formed through the freezer door and closed by a separate panel hinged to the door. On the inner face of the panel is hung a bin which serves as the reservoir for ice from an ice maker. Or instead of a bin, a drawer-like reservoir is engaged with the panel only when the freezer door is closed so that when the panel is then swung open, the drawer is drawn part way out through the door for access to the ice. In yet another approach, the panel is located between a pair of vertically spaced freezer doors and is independent of them, the panel forming the front of a drawer-like reservoir which is pulled out to get at the ice much as in those arrangements where a crisper drawer itself forms part of the front of the cabinet between a pair of main doors.
When a bin or drawer is used which opens through the door itself, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,007 or 3,643,464, obviously a separate entrance must be formed in the door and closed by a separate hinged panel. This tends to be expensive, as compared with the cost of a plain door, and in the case of the drawer some means, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,464, must be included in order to disconnect the panel from the drawer when the door is closed so that the latter can be opened without disturbing the drawer. If a drawer between two doors is employed, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,270, a rather elaborate suspension for the drawer is required as indicated in that patent. The present invention, on the other hand, combines the advantages of the prior art constructions while reducing cost and complexity by providing direct access to ice from the front of the cabinet without need to open a main door.